1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the isomerization of substituted alkenes.
2. Description of Related Art
The invention relates to a process for the isomerization of substituted alkenes such as unsaturated fatty acids or homoallyl-alcohols. Such a process is known from Colonge and Guyot, Bulletin de la Société Chimique de France, 1954, no. 69, p. 339-342. Colonge and Guyot describe the isomerization of the substituted alkene methylricinoleate (12-hydroxy-cis-9-octadecenoic acid methyl ester) to methyl-12-oxo-steareate using a Raney-Ni catalyst.
A problem of Raney-Ni catalysed isomerization reactions is that the temperature at which the reaction is carried out is relatively high, namely around 200° C. High temperatures are economically undesired for reasons of energy and equipment design, and also because the reaction selectivity usually decreases as the reaction temperature increases.